[humanrebar]

A fast search algorithm is to have 1000 threads check all 1000 array elements at the same time. Possibly only one thread will find the value you're looking for, but it's not like the other 999 threads were wasting their time.

[melling]

Sure, 1000 people working on a difficult problem, and only one person solves it. Good analogy.

What problem are we trying to solve? Curing cancer? AI? Compiler research?

Most humans are not working on the important stuff. If we could increase that by even a few percentage points, humanity would benefit.

[humanrebar]

> What problem are we trying to solve?

Cheaper clean energy. Cures for diseases. Social stability.

In some cases, we aren't talking about 1000 people. It could be 1000 cities or 1000 countries or 1000 bills of rights.

[melling]

I’m personally not working on any of those problems.

I think you’re completely missing my point. 7 billion people on the planet. Most of are not working on research, ..., the important stuff.